Harry's Saviour
by KnightStrider49
Summary: Dumbledore rescues Harry from the Dursleys after reports of his abusive treatment at Privet Drive. One-shot for starters but I may continue depending on the reviews and requests.


Disclaimer: All characters and content of this story are the property of J.K. Rowling. This is written strictly for entertainment purposes.

**Harry's Saviour **

Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and considered to all the most powerful wizard of the current age, was worried. He had received many complaints from his old friend, a squib by the name of Arabella Figg, concerning the well-being of a certain orphaned boy of the age of 6. When the first negative report had been given, he had thought little of it as he had known that life with his relatives would be difficult for the child. After 20 further reports however he was starting to get worried. It was only hours after he received a particularly disturbing report and was trying to complete his mountain of paperwork, that he found his mind wondering. His mind was battling the wisdom behind disturbing the peace of Privet Drive, but he finally made a decision which he knew was against what was probably best for the boy, and stood.

Albus decided that Fluing straight to Arabella's before he could change his mind again would be the best course of action. Without further prompting he headed towards the fireplace, only stopping to change his robes to a muggle suit of midnight blue. He walked towards the fireplace and grabbed a handful of flu powder. He threw the powder into the fireplace, and stepped into the green flames that had burst to life within.

"Figg residence, Privet Drive," he spoke and spun passed many fireplaces before he stepped out at his destination. He looked around the dark lounge room of his friends small home. It was evident that many animals, most likely cats, had played and spent a great deal of time in this area. "Arabella?" he called into the silence of the cosy home. With no reply, Dumbledore made his way towards the entrance, figuring that she was out shopping.

The brightness that assaulted him upon emerging from the small building left him standing on the doorstep for a minute to gather his bearings. 'Now what number was the house again? Number 7, 3?' he thought, only now asking himself the important question. He looked around at the street, each house the exact replica of the next ('how boring') until he felt a small tingle run through his spine, his eyes landing on the source. 'Number 4, of course'. He walked across the road and entering through the small gate in the fence surrounding the Dursley residence. Upon approaching the house, he heard loud, angry voices with a thump and whimpering sound of pain. Worried, he hurriedly reached the wooden door, knocked and stood, waiting for someone to answer. 'I'm sure it's nothing to be worried about. I'm just being a foolish old man.' The thoughts were repeated constantly in his mind, while his fears grew even louder as he waited for an answer to his knock.

His wait was finally ended when the door opened to reveal the chubby well fed face of a boy. The boys eyes raked up and down Dumbledore's tall frame before he asked, rather abruptly, "What do you want?"

Knowing there was no chance of the boy being James and Lily's son, and assuming he was the Dursley boy, he replied, "My name is Albus Dumbledore and I am here concerning your cousin, Harry."

The response of this was not what Albus had expected however, for as soon as he was finished, the boy scowled at him and turned back inside only to yell, "mum, dad, there's a man who wants to talk to you about Harry!"

Hiding his surprise behind his calm mask, he watched as the overweight boy wobbled back inside and waited once again until the long-faced, curly haired muggle appeared in the place. Like her son before her, she scrutinized his appearance, disgust at his attire evident in her eyes. "What did the boy do this time? We refuse to pay for any damages!" she finally said, forgoing any formal greeting.

"I am Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts as I am sure you well remember Mrs Dursley. I have come to pay a visit to Harry and to see how he is doing." he replied simply, highly disturbed by her lack of greeting and concern towards her nephew. The smile on his face never wavering but becoming less genuine as the minutes in the Dursley's company flew by. Having no desire to stand outside, waiting for the invitation to enter that he knew would never come. He passed an open mouthed Petunia and entered into the hall, his eyes raking the small area for the sign of the small boy known as Harry Potter.

As Albus exited the hallway and entered the lounge room, he heard an adult male voice yell, "who was at the door Petunia?"

Petunia, snapped out of her shock by her husband's voice, slammed the door shut while replying hurriedly, "Vernon, in the lounge room now! It's him, it's that man!" In answer to her call, Vernon wobbled towards the lounge room, stopping only to close some type of cupboard door. Within a minute his already angry face appeared in the room, his face contorting into a violet shade of purple.

The age old wizard stared at the purple face of the whale of a man, remaining calm but felt his heart sink with dread.

"Get out of my house! I refuse to have any more freaks invading my home! One is enough! Now leave!" Vernon raged, his face so discoloured that Albus thought he could quite possibly faint.

Dumbledore, his face now devoid of any smile, simply replied in a deadly calm voice, "I will not leave until I talk to Harry. He is the reason I am here and I refuse to leave without seeing how he is doing."

"The boy is not here and will not get home until late this afternoon, he cannot talk to you," Petunia hurriedly replied, causing the headmasters worry to sky rocket. 'Maybe Remus was right! I shouldn't have left Harry with these people. I should have taken him myself when I had the chance,' he thought but once again dismissed it for now, he had done what he thought best at the time.

Returning to the present, he thought over what Petunia had just said, and knew it was a complete folly. He could sense that there was another magical presence in the house and would not leave until he'd uncovered the cause for these obvious lies. "I am quite content with waiting for his return, however I am quite sure I won't have to wait very long as I sense Harry is quite close. Already inside the house in fact." He stared at the two faces in front of him, knowing it would be easy to look into their minds but refusing to go against his values and discover what the issue was with his own eyes. He sighed when the only answer to his statement was complete shock and anger. "Shall I assume I am to find harry myself?" he questioned the Dursley's and walked out of the room refusing to waste time with the pitiful excuses they were bound to use.

Walking into the hallway once again, he tried to decide where to search first. Deciding that upstairs would be the most obvious place to start, he hurried up the stairs. With no witnesses around, he let his worry show on his face, wanting to find Harry as fast as possible, hoping against hope he would be playing happily in his room, despite his growing anxiety. Reaching the landing he headed towards the door on the right and opened it. Nothing but broken toys and unread books could be seen spread across the floor. After 10 seconds he moved onto the second door on the right and looked in to see a neat room with an En-suite. Knowing this must be the spare room he moved on, panicking when he realised there were only two rooms left. Quickly peeking into the adult bedroom, he moved onto the final room on the right, almost begging for him to be in there. Opening the door to reveal yet another empty room, Dumbledore thought he'd never find his harry. The only thing that kept his hope from crumbling completely was the fact that there was still another magical presence in the house.

Albus turned when he heard the front door slam shut, realising that the Dursley's had probably taken Harry and fled in terror. He sighed and started down the stairs, completely forgetting the magical presence still in the house in the wake of his now officially crushed hope. Reaching the bottom he headed towards the door and started to open it. When he turned around to close the door completely however, he heard a small whimper of pain coming from somewhere in the hallway. Deciding to investigate since no one else was home, he slowly but silently walked towards its source. As he was passing his cupboard, he realised that it must be a small child. Moving faster he continued through the hall and when he reached the kitchen door, he froze. The sound has grown fainter he realised, and turned around moving back towards the only other possible place, the cupboard under the stairs. The tall headmaster opened the door and went down on his knees. The sight that met him had him reeling back in shock. In the cupboard was a small, fold-up bed with a small bundle curled up which was evidently the source of the whimpering.

"Are you ok child?" Dumbledore asked after finally recovering from his initial shock. The bundle visibly tensed before curling up in a ball at the sound of his voice. "It's alright child, I will not harm you, I just wish to help you," he tried to reassure the little bundle in his calm voice, only now considering that the bundle could be the one he had been searching for so frantically.

Very slowly the bundle turned and Albus reached out and pulled him out of the cupboard, the blankets falling away from him as he went. He set the child on the floor, hearing the whimpering sounds grow louder with every movement. He was about to offer words of comfort when he finally took in the small boys appearance. There was no doubt that this was the son of Lily and James Potter. Everything from the messy black hair to the, albeit dull, green eyes. He froze again, his heart plunging into his stomach as he remembered where he had found him and even now, taking the appearance of discoloured skin and the odd angle of both his right leg and left wrist. Quickly replacing his shock however, was his growing anger towards the Dursley's. 'How dare they harm his Harry. Oh why did I leave him here when he had known they wouldn't give him all the love he was due. Why didn't I listen to Minerva?' Sighing in frustration, he put the accusations and anger aside, seeing the frightened child shaking before him.

Looking at his broken wrist and leg, he bound a splint to both using magic so as not to aggravate the injuries even more than they already were, if the boys sharp, short intakes of breath were any indication. Picking up the 6 year old and pulling him into an embrace, he said, "It's alright Harry, I'm here now. I'm a family friend of your parents. I'm not going to hurt you. You're going to be fine." The soothing words seemed to calm the boy a little and his tense figure relaxed into the embrace, despite his numerous injuries. Standing, he shifted the weight of the child to his right hip and walked towards the door. "Come Harry, let us leave this place and get you healed up," he said, hoping the child wouldn't protest. The fact that the child had yet to speak worried him greatly. Walking out into the street, he walked back to Arabella's and knocked before entering.

"Why are we at Ms Figg's?" asked a small voice from his arms.

Smiling at the child in his arms, happy that he finally spoke, he replied, "She is an old friend of mine who I asked to watch over you." He looked around the house, once again finding it empty and unnaturally quiet.

"Watch over me? Why would she need to watch over a freak? Why do you care so much about me?" Harry asked the now stunned headmaster.

Looking down into the boy's sad, hurt eyes, he replied, "Why wouldn't I care? I love you very much Harry. I left you with your Aunt and Uncle with the hope that they would take good care of you and provide the protection that I could not." He pulled away from Harry's gaze, his own eyes reflecting his regret and sadness. 'Oh why hadn't he just taken Harry and saved him from all the pain he has had to endure in his short life.'

"Oh. I'm sorry," he said, still gazing up at Dumbledore.

"For what?" Albus replied, completely lost as to the reason behind Harry asking for forgiveness.

"For causing you so much pain and sadness. I don't want to make you sad. I'll go back to my Aunts so you can be happy again," he said with so much conviction and sadness in his voice as he tried to wriggle out of Dumbledore's arms.

"You will do no such thing!" Albus replied, leaving no room for the 6 year old to argue. 'How could he ever think that? Those Dursley are going to pay!' he thought to himself, 'no one gets away with hurting my boy!' "There is no need for apologies Harry, except for an apology to you for placing you at your relatives home in the first place. Ok Harry?" The small boys face stared at him in awe as he nodded his head in agreement.

The aged headmaster then walked over to the fireplace and found an old cat food tin that contained the flu powder. Grabbing a handful, he tightened his grip on harry and said, "this is going to feel very strange harry, but I ask that you try to remain as calm as possible, ok?" Receiving a small, unsure nod, Dumbledore threw the powder into the flames and said out loud, "Headmasters office, Hogwarts," and stepped into the green flames.

Many grates spun past until they finally stepped out at their destination. The boy in his arms was shaking madly, his eyes scrunched shut with lines of tears leaking out in terror from the weird sensation of flu travel. "Shh Harry, it's all right, you're alright. Open your eyes my boy, you'll feel much better," he said, trying to calm the distraught child.

Very slowly the child stopped shaking and the tears slowed as he opened his eyes. Shock was evident on his face as he looked around and Albus' heart felt lighter as he watched his face light up in awe. 'That is more like it!' the headmaster thought to himself, a large smile spreading across his face. "Now I don't think I've properly introduced myself. I am Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." The small boy looked back at Dumbledore in surprise.

"Magic doesn't exist, uncle Vernon always said so," the young boy replied, his excitement dying as he stated it out loud. Before he could correct him though, harry tried to move his position and started whimpering again as he aggravated his broken wrist.

Dumbledore finally remembered Harry's injuries and reprimanded himself for his memory lapse. Walking towards the door, he said, "careful my boy. I'm sorry, I almost forgot your injuries. We are heading to the infirmary to get you fixed up." The movement of his walking seemed to cause Harry even more pain, his heart felt heavy with the realisation. 'How could I forget his injuries? He must have been in a world of pain!' He put it aside until later however, it would do no good to work himself up when Harry needed his full attention and care.

Reaching the infirmary in good time he walked over to the nearest bed and said to Harry quietly, "I will only be a moment my boy."

He turned and was almost at Madam Pomfrey's office when Harry spoke in a quiet whisper, "please hurry, I don't want to be left alone." Turning back to Harry, he looked at his pleading eyes and nodded his head before disappearing into the office. He quickly knocked on her private quarters door and waited impatiently. Poppy appeared a minute later, her nightgown wrapped around her petite frame tightly.

"Albus? Whatever is the matter? Are you ill? I will get you a pepper up potion right away!" she said hurriedly after giving him a once over and walking into the infirmary before he could correct her.

He sighed to himself. She was always looking after him, even when he was in excellent health. Hearing a slight gasp coming from outside, he smiled and hurried into the next room to find poppy looking between himself and Harry.

"Ah. I see you have found your patient. I am quite well as you can see, Harry however is a bit worse for wear. Do you think you could fix him up for me Poppy?" he said, walking to Harry's bed and sitting on the edge. The boy had fallen to sleep in the few short minutes it had taken him to get Poppy. 'Poor boy must have been exhausted,' he thought as he smiled sadly down at the sleeping form, reaching out and stroking his messy black hair.

"Of course Albus, but what is Mr Potter doing here? I thought he was staying with his muggle relatives! And what on earth happened to him? Where did you find him?" The questions streamed from Madam Pomfrey's mouth in a rush as she set to work healing the wrist, leg, and the worst of the small boys visible bruising. After that was done, she turned to face him. "Can you help me take his shirt off to check for any similar injuries?"

Albus grimaced, knowing that doing so could wake the boy from his much needed sleep. Together, they sat Harry up and removed his shirt, lowering him back onto the bed after doing so. They both sighed in relief as they inspected his back for any further signs of abuse. His back and stomach contained a few long, shallow scratches that were nearly healed. They looked as though someone had scratched him with their own fingernails. Besides a few bruises marking his ribs however, he wasn't as badly injured as they had first thought, not that it lessoned the old man's guilt.

'How could anyone to this to a child,' he thought. Guilt once again overtook him as he remembered who was responsible for the abuse and neglect the child had suffered. Collapsing into the nearest chair, he put his head in his hands as tears for the young boys pain overcame him. "oh Harry, how could I have let this happen to you?" he whispered to himself in his grief. "Why didn't I just take you in myself? Why didn't I listen to Minerva? Hogwarts is safe enough! Oh! Why didn't I think of that before?" Dumbledore continued, growing steadily louder in frustration.

"Because you didn't think it would be the best thing for Harry at the time. You believed that Harry would be safer and happier with his family and under other circumstances, you would have been correct. Do not beat yourself up about it now Albus. You have rescued him from his relatives and can now do what is best for him. Personally I think the best thing would be for you to look after him. You said it yourself, Hogwarts is safe enough. I think it is about time that you had someone to look after. You already love him that is clear, give it a chance for the both of you to be happy!" ranted Poppy, while finishing up on Harry's injuries and turning to face Albus with her hands on her hips and a stern face.

Dumbledore looked doubtful at first, almost dismissing the idea before completely considering it. 'Should I do it? Would Harry be happier with an old man like me? I would certainly treat him better than his _relatives_'. A small smile crept onto his face and he thought, 'yes, I love him and I should let him know that. He deserves all the love that I can give him'. Turning to his Nurse, his eyes twinkling brightly once again. "Yes, I do believe you are correct. The best thing for Harry right now is with his _family_." He saw the kind eyes of Madam Pomfrey shining with joy and… was that relief? Turning his gaze to Harry once again he thought, 'Yes, everything is going to be alright. Harry will stay with me and I'll help him to move on and create new, happier memories of what a loving family is supposed to be like'. He let his mind explore the joy and love that the future will hold for the both of them.

End.

For now this is a one-shot but if you want I will continue. If you do want me to continue, any idea's you have for a plotline would be welcome. I will wait to see the response I get first though because this is my first Fanfiction and I'm not really that confident in my writing abilities. Feedback would be wonderful and welcome but please be kind.

Thank you for reading :D - KnightStrider49


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